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Research paper example essay prompt: Essayist Art - 864 words

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Essayist Art Sounds Personification "Commerce is
unexpectedly confident and serene, alert,
adventurous and unwearied." (84) Through the
personification of commerce Thoreau is able to
show that commerce fluctuates in the same manner
as humanity. The adjectives he uses to describe
commerce show that commerce has some of the same
tendencies as humans, and Thoreau believes that it
is these tendencies that make commerce so
successful. Chapter 5: Solitude Allusion "who
keeps himself more secret than ever did Goffe or
Whalley." (96) Thoreau is making a historical
allusion to William Goffe and Edward Whalley who
were English regicides during the English civil
war. They were signers of the death warrant for
Charles I then after his Restoration in 1660 they
fled to America for a life of seclusion in Hadley,
Massachusetts. The use of this allusion
contributes to Thoreaus style because it expresses
the remarkable secrecy and remoteness of the old
settlers life.

This also shows the contrasts in
this man because Thoreau says he is "most wise and
humorous" (96) but also discusses his almost
anti-social tendencies. Chapter 7: Visitors
Hyperbole "speech is for the convenience of those
who are hard of hearing" (98) In this hyperbole
Thoreau is exaggerating his proposition that
silence and space are effective tools for
communication. Thoreau believes that "big thoughts
in big words" (98) have to "run a course or
two"(98) before comprehension is truly possible.
For Thoreau, the best conversations travel through
space and silence. The exaggeration that speech is
a convenience for the hard of hearing is a
hyperbole because that would be an impossible
situation. He uses this hyperbole to show that
humanity places too much emphasis on speech.

For
Thoreau, speech is more important to those who are
hard of hearing than silence will ever be to the
average person. Chapter 9: The Village Metonymy
"perhaps my body would find its way home if its
master should forsake it." (117) Thoreau uses the
word"master" as a substitute for the word "I."
"Master" logically connects to Thoreaus mind or
intuition. Thoreau has no difficulty using the
word "I" in other parts of Walden , but he uses
"master" here because in this situation his mind
is separate from his body. Therefore, the full "I"
cannot exist because Thoreaus mind and body are so
connected. Chapter 12: Higher Laws Pun "I have no
doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the
human race, in its gradual improvement to leave
off eating animals." (147-148) By using the words
"leave off" Thoreau creates a paronomasia pun
because"leave off" has a similar structure to
"live off." This creates the effect that to "leave
off" eating animals , in reality, is an absurd
suggestion because humans must "live off" eating
animals.

Chapter 12: Brute Neighbors Metaphor
"Suddenly your adversarys checker disappears
beneath the board, and the problem is to place
yours nearest to where his will appear again."
(159) Thoreau uses the metaphor of the checker
board to provide a more familiar example for his
readers in the description of a game he played
with a loon. This metaphor gives the effect that
people often find themselves in unexpected
situations, and they may never suspect their
adversary to "play" so well. Chapter 17: The Pond
in Winter Extended Metaphor "the long lost bottom
of Walden Pond" (191) Thoreau uses the bottomless
aspect of Walden Pond to illustrate many different
points. By using the pond as a metaphor Thoreau
shows his readers that stories are often without
foundation, like the pond. He also says, " It is
remarkable how long men will believe in the
bottomlessness of a pond without taking the
trouble to sound it." (191) Using this metaphor
for the pond and society, Thoreau tells his
readers that they should investigate and not draw
rapid conclusions because the depth of any aspect
of society can not be known until it undergoes a
thorough investigation.

Furthermore, Thoreau says,
"What if all ponds were made shallow? Would it not
react the minds of men? I am thankful that this
pond was made deep and pure for a symbol. While
men believe in the infinite some ponds will be
thought to be bottomless." (191) In this passage
Thoreau tells the reader that he is using the
bottomlessness of the pond as a metaphor for
society. He makes the point that society will
invent its own circumstances to remain inquisitive
in an infinite search for truth. Chapter 19:
Conclusion Paradox "the dead dry life of society"
(221) Thoreau creates a paradox by using the
adjective "dead" to describe life. This is a
paradox because life is impossible if one is dead.
Thoreau expresses his attitude about materialistic
societies in this paradox.

Life has become so
trivial that, in effect, any hope of a "real,"
meaningful life is dead. Chapter 19: Conclusion
Simile "The life in us is like the water in the
river." (221) For Thoreau, life may be similar to
the water in the river, because it flows over
anything in its path, it babbles or communicates
with everything it meets, follows many different
directions, continually has something to keep it
connected, or on a transcendental level, it would
have no clear beginning or end. Thoreau uses this
simile to achieve a philosophic effect and as the
beginning of a metaphor.